Support an everlasting peace

Marcus My Words

What does it mean to be in support of a Palestinian state? This
is a question that should arise frequently over the course of the
next few days and coming weeks as the Palestinian Authority seeks a
Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) at the United Nations.
As college students who lean toward predominately progressive
causes, it is vital to understand the importance of what this
declaration indicates. Now, let us for a moment put aside the legal
questions of the Palestinian UDI and the United Nations’ role in a
unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state. Let’s first get down
to the basics of what it would mean to support this type of
Palestinian state.

As many of your parents and professors will tell you, growing up
in the 1950’s and 1960’s granted them the opportunity to witness
history. The United States saw racial boundaries broken down and
the end of Jim Crowe. This high point in American history
re-established the motto immortalized in the Declaration of
Independence that all men are created equal.

Why, after preceding generations demanded these rights, should
their kin stand for the opposite? Today, that same motto, which
most believe to be universally true is being threatened under the
guise of Palestinian Liberation. This isn’t solely my belief, but
the direct policy of a potential Palestinian state as well. Maen
Areikat, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) ambassador
to the United Nations, indicated two social policy platforms of a
future Palestinian state at a breakfast hosted by the Christian
Science Monitor. Areikat stated that Jews would “absolutely” be
banned for a Palestinian state and has also been silent about gay
rights.

Think about that for a moment: A state that is seeking
international recognition will from its inception ban certain
individuals based on their religion and potentially their sexual
orientation. Compare that to Israel, a nation whose Muslim
community represents 20 percent of its population, a nation that
sees Muslims represented in the nation’s government and with
permanent positions on the Israeli Supreme Court. Compare it to the
openly gay service members who serve in the Israel Defense Forces
and the annual gay pride parade in Tel Aviv that this past year
drew more than 100,000 spectators.

While Areikat claims that a Palestine state would remain
secular, his confession that Jews and gays will not be welcome in
this potential country makes it crystal clear that Hamas will have
a strong hand in the formation of a unilaterally declared
Palestinian state. Aside from the obvious questions one should have
with a terrorist organization running a country, the PLO’s
conformity to such a group of people calls into question their
legitimacy as well. Hamas calls for not only the destruction of all
Israeli Jews in their charter, but Jews around the world as well.
In addition, they lump “western capitalists,” i.e., the United
States, into the realm of those they seek to destroy.

Now, if the PLO has already caved on issues pertaining to those
eligible to live in a Palestinian country, at what point do they
cave on other Hamas principles like the outright killing of Jews
and Western “infidels?” At what point do they adopt the Hamas
slogan, “Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran
its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah
is the loftiest of its wishes.” Think about whether this policy
will help bring peace to the ongoing conflict, or more hatred and
greater animosity? Think about whether you will support the first
nation since Nazi Germany to officially prohibit the presence of
Jews?

Israel is a nation that for decades has obliged to international
law, withdrawn from disputed territories and plans to withdraw from
more all in a desperate cry for peace. Both Egypt and Jordan came
to peace agreements with Israel through direct negotiations, and in
the 1990’s Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed the Oslo
Accords, which explicitly forbids either entity from taking
unilateral steps to determine final status of disputed territory.
Further, PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas stated in late August that even
if the Palestinian UDI were successful, they would not recognize a
Jewish state in Israel or relinquish their claim to the established
and internationally recognized country of Israel.

Perhaps you don’t know much about the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, or perhaps you do. Here lies a rare opportunity for you
to stand for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on
everlasting peace, or heightened tension in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict based on the subversion of international law and a growing
call for the destruction of an entire group of people. Israel is
not perfect. No nation run by man ever can be. But there are few
points in time where good and evil are so apparent. If you choose
to accept this unilaterally declared Palestinian state run in
conjunction with Hamas, get ready to align yourselves with the only
nation since Nazi Germany to officially ban people from entering a
country based on their religion. History is doomed to repeat itself
unless we mend our mistakes. This is one mistake humanity cannot
afford to make again.

Aaron Marcus is a School of Arts and Science senior majoring in
political science with a minor in history. His column, “Marcus My
Words,” runs on alternate Tuesdays.